Thursday, 19 March 2009 00:00
Last Updated on Monday, 27 February 2012 12:43

19.03.2009

REACTION OF THE PRESS COUNCIL IN B&H and ASSOCIATION OF PRINT MEDIA PUBLISHERS IN B&H - PRESA

PHYSICAL ATTACKS ON FTV TEAM ARE ATTACKS ON CITIZENS AND CITIZENS’ RIGHT TO TRUTH INFORMATION

The Press Council in B&H and PRESA appeal to state institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and all other authorised institutions in the country, to finally start reacting seriously and punish perpetrators of physical attacks on journalists. Do not wait till some of journalists get killed to finally realise how serious the situation is – react immediately!

The Press Council in Bosnia and Herzegovina and PRESA most seriously condemn physical attacks on journalist and FTV “60 minutes” team in Trebinje and Ljubinje, that happened on 18th of March 2009.

Physical attacks on media teams and repeated suppressions of journalists to perform their responsible tasks of informing citizens on events is attack on citizens’ freedom and direct jeopardising of B&H citizens’ rights to accurate and timely information. It should not be forgotten that media and media organisations, in the past year, have reacted on numerous occasions and pointed out at necessity for serious reactions of authorised institutions to punish the attackers. The result of their inactivity or insufficiently serious approach to this more obvious problem results in more frequent attacks and open obstructions of media in reporting.

Free civil society cannot exist without fee and critical journalism. Closing eyes and ignoring almost everyday jeopardising of journalists lives during their work and prevention of free flow of information will have great consequences not only for freedom of investigative journalism in B&H, but also for freedom of all citizens in this country, regardless of the entity they live in. Those who want media blockage want to have control over information, and with that, manipulation over the public. In free democratic country, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina should be, such things are inadmissible.

With that in mind, we appeal to Ministry of Inner Affairs of Republika Srpska and EUPM in B&H to react as soon as possible and undertake all measures against perpetrators of the physical attacks at FTV team, which planned to endanger their rights and prevent them in performing their task of public informing.

This reaction, as information, will also be submitted to all media and relevant organisation in B&H and Southeast Europe, as well as the OSCE Mission in Vienna and the International Federation of Journalists, IFJ.